[nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind onjob/internship application process?

Karl Martin Adam kmaent1 at gmail.com
Fri Jul 24 21:41:14 UTC 2015


This is, as others have said, debated.  In the NFB we for the 
most part describe ourselves as "blind people" and as "the 
blind."  There are very good reasons for that; other personal 
characteristics don't use person first language.  For instance, I 
would describe myself as "a straight, white, male" not as "a 
person who is straight, white, and a male."  Setting disability 
up as the exception to our normal ways of talking about ourselves 
seems like a very bad idea if we believe that blindness and other 
disabilities are characteristics like any others.  They also play 
into the medical model of disability (we describe diseases in 
person first language e.g. a person with cancer, a person with 
heart disease etc.), so person first language with regard to 
disabilities plays into the public narrative that disabilities 
are diseases to be cured.  .  There is, of course, the issue of 
the etymology of "disability" as literally meaning a 
"non-ability", but I'm not convinced that describing ourselves as 
"impaired," which is the only alternative I've heard of, really 
has better connotations.

Best,
Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
From: justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 14:15:39 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind onjob/internship	
application process?

The correct term is someone who has a disability. You wouldn't 
say someone
who is disabled.  If you do that with true proes in the field, 
they will get
you for that. The theory is that a disability does not make you 
disabled.
Justin.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Kaiti Shelton
via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 1:17 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind on 
job/internship
application process?

Hi, Miso and all,

I'm in a position where my field helps people who have 
disabilities.
I would be very selective in using this, but if I'm applying to 
work in a
school's special needs program I might say, "As someone who is 
disabled I
believe I will have a greater sense of empathy and knowledge of 
disability
issues than someone who does not have a disability."  That could 
also lead
into talk about role modeling and the student feeling more 
comfortable
discussing disability issues with me than their non-disabled 
parents,
teachers, friends, etc. However, if I'm applying for a job in 
someplace like
a hospital setting, where disability is not the main thing, I 
would say the
same but say, "As I have been hospitalized as a child to undergo 
surgeries
and other treatments," instead of the disability bit.

I currently hold two jobs and am waiting to hear back from 
another where
blindness was a factor in my hiring process.  One sounds similar 
to yours in
that it is an accessibility tester for my school, and the other 
is at a
center for the blind in my hometown where I work the phones at 
the front
desk.  I have 2 separate resumes to use when applying for one or 
the other
kind of job; for jobs that don't want to hear about blindness 
stuff I've got
a very clean-cut resume, but for jobs like this and the 
disability services
office one I interviewed for I have one that mentions the access 
technology
I can use, the braille codes I know, my experience working with 
others who
have disabilities, etc.

You also have to be careful on resumes with the scholarships; my 
"clean" one
doesn't mention the word blind at all, except for that I 
volunteered at one
place for the blind for a significant time under music therapists 
and the
center where I was a receptionist.  The other one mentions it far 
more,
including my NFB scholarships at the national and state level, 
the camp I
counsel for, etc.  Also on the clean copy I use "visually 
impaired" when
describing positions that have me working with blind people.  Not 
that I'm a
fan of doing that in normal life, but in my field it is the 
politically
correct terminology and it isn't as jarring as saying blind.

On 7/24/15, Bryan Duarte via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
 I would like to share my recent experience with this topic. I 
was
 recently contact by Google to explore my career opportunities 
with
 them in the Software Engineering field. They had a copy of my 
resume
 in hand already and I do not disclose that I am blind but I do 
make
 several references to my research focus areas, student 
organizations I
 am apart of, and my student clubs I operate. Each of these areas 
on my
 resume give insight to my focus on the blind and low vision 
community.
 I also make reference to the different tools I use and am 
proficient
 in including the screen readers I use and Braille display.

 Now during this initial contact I talked with the recruiter for 
about
 an hour before he eventually began telling me how the interview
 process would operate. I would be expected to use google 
hangouts to
 share my screen and google docs to share with an engineer so 
they
 could watch me write code collaboratively. This part was ok I 
still did
not disclose my blindness.
 Next he explained that if I were to be moved to the next stage 
of the
 process they would be flying me out to Mountain View California 
for a
 series of follow up interviews with four more engineers where I 
would
 be expected to write code once again, but this time it would be
 writing it on a white board. For software engineers this is a 
common
 way of laying out code when working on teams so I was familiar 
with
 the possibility this would be asked of me. Now I had a decision 
to
 make here. I could disclose my blindness and give them the 
opportunity
 to make accommodations for me a head of time, or I could show up 
to
 the interview concealing my disability and potentially set 
myself up
 for failure. I continued to listen intently to how the process 
was
 going to work and when he asked me if I had any questions I took 
this
opportunity to say, "Yes actually I do have a question and a few 
comments."
 I went on to explain that I have no problem using google 
hangouts and
 google docs to write code, but I did have a little issue with 
white
boarding code.
 My exact words were something to the effect of, well you might 
notice
 my references to all the focus on blind accessibility and 
assistive
 technology, he replied yes, and I told him it is because I am a
 software engineer who has no problem developing software with 
the best
 of them but I do it as a blind person. As you might guess he was 
able
 to read between the lines when he reviewed my resume and already 
had a
 pretty good idea but as a good recruiter he was not going to ask 
the
question unless I first brought it up.


 To sum this up I will be having an interview with Google 
engineers
 this August and if I should make it to the second stages of 
interviews
 they are well aware of my disability, my need for 
accommodations, and
 more than willing to make those necessary accommodations. I 
think we
 as people with a disability in a world that is becoming more and 
more
 aware of our presents and drive for equal and competitive 
employment
 it is in our favor to wait for the right time and place to 
disclose
 our disability in a way that makes it known we will be doing 
things
 differently but we can and will still be committed to the 
opportunity
 just as the rest of the people who interview. I hope this helps.

 Go Devils!

 Bryan Duarte
 ASU Software Engineering
 QwikEyes CEO

 On Jul 24, 2015, at 8:57 AM, Justin Harford via nabs-l
 <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 wrote:

 You could put blind related experience on your resume. For 
example,
 if you served on the board of the Association of blind students 
at
 any level, you could put that on your resume as part of your 
experience.

 This is if you were looking to disclose.

 Sent from my iPad

 On Jul 24, 2015, at 6:00 AM, Suzanne Germano via nabs-l
 <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 My opinion if you put in on a resume you make it look like maybe 
it
 is an issue. It is like at a career fair it would have been 
awkward
 for me to say Hi I am Suzanne I am looking for an internship and 
I
 am legally blind.
 What
 i did do was use my cane so they would know why I was squinting 
and
 holding paperwork to my nose.

 If it is just an inconvenience then why put it on a resume? just
 show up at the interview with your cane or dog.

 You resume should only speak to why you are a fit for the job. 
Now
 don't hide it for example if you received and NFB Scholarship 
then
 you add that under awards.

 Suzanne

 On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 7:38 AM, Carly  via nabs-l <
 nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Morning, Justin,

 If blindness remains like a party line insists, nothing more 
than a
 what
 do they call it,   mere inconvenience, then why aren't we 
encouraged to
 be
 forthright about this personal characteristic? Feels a little
 dishonest to me. Aren't we supposed to embrace this personal
 characteristic? For my part, I love my blindness, want people 
whom
 mix with me also to regard this blindness in a positive light.
 Car

 disability of any sort.  However, some situations do benefit you
 to disclose such.  Usually, I wouldn't disclose until you have 
the
 interview for sure, and I wouldn't do that unless my disability
 was obvious upon sight.
 So,
 if
 you have a cane, dog, or something to indicate you have a
 disability, in other words, your disability is not hidden, 
telling
 the interviewer before you arrive lessens the shock value, and 
at
 least gives you a better chance of having an honest interview.  
It
 also gives you the ability to better access whether or not the
 place in question is a good fit for you; you are interviewing 
them
 as much as they are interviewing you. Of course, you can just go
 to the interview not having told them anything if you think that
 is best, you are not required to disclose at all.  If you are in
 need of an accommodation during the interview application or
 interview process, then you have to disclose in order to receive
 the appropriate accommodation.
  I
 hope this helps.

 Justin.
 -----Original Message-----
 From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Miso
 Kwak via nabs-l
 Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 3:11 AM
 To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Cc: Miso Kwak <kwakmiso at aol.com
 Subject: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind on job/internship
 application process?

 Hello everyone,
 What are your thoughts about disclosing our blindness when
 applying to internships and/or jobs?
 I currently have a job (which is my first official job) so I 
have
 done it once, but I had an easy way.
 My blindness was a major factor in being hired because I work 
for
 making an accessible campus map for my university. I got 
recruited
 because I was a blind student who was active on campus, so I did
 not have to think about when and how to disclose my blindness.
 I am currently applying to different internships with hope of
 getting one to complete one of my minor requirements.
 So I am a bit confused and concerned on how I should handle
 disclosing that I am blind.
 Would you do it on case by case basis?
 For instance, if you were applying to an organization that 
mainly
 serves blind client, would you disclose that you are blind,
 whereas, if you were applying for a corporate internship or a 
baby
 sitting job, you would not?
 I'd just like to hear your thoughts on this matter.
 Thank you in advance.
 Miso Kwak



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--
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present 
Secretary, The
National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division 
2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you 
back!"

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